Tuesday, 4 August 2009

LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD

'....as if the ground were still sand or gravel or flagstones over which I walked once again along these corridors, through these salons and galleries, in this edifice of a bygone era, this sprawling, sumptuous, baroque, gloomy hotel, where one endless corridor follows another....

....silent rooms where one's footsteps are absorbed by carpets so thick, so heavy, that no sound reaches one's ear, as if the very ear of him who walks on once again along these corridors, through these salons and galleries, in this edifice of a bygone era....

....sculpted doorframes, rows of doorways, galleries, side corridors that in turn lead to empty salons heavy with ornamentation of a bygone era, silent rooms, where one's footsteps are absorbed by carpets so thick, so heavy, that no sound reaches one's ear, as if the very ear....

....flagstones over which I walked once again, along these corridors, through these salons and galleries, in this edifice of a bygone era, this sprawling, sumptuous, baroque, gloomy hotel, where one endless corridor follows another, silent and deserted, heavy with cold, dark woodwork, stucco, molded paneling, marble, black mirrors, dark-toned portraits, columns, sculpted doorframes, rows of doorways, galleries, side corridors that in turn lead to empty salons heavy with ornamentation of a bygone era....

....dark-toned portraits, columns, sculpted doorframes, rows of doorways, galleries, side corridors that in turn lead to empty salons, salons heavy with ornamentation of a bygone era....

silent rooms, where one's footsteps are absorbed by carpets so thick, so heavy, that no sound reaches one's ear, as if one's very ear were far away, far from the ground, from the carpet, far from this heavy, empty setting, far from this complex frieze running just beneath the ceiling, with its branches and garlands, like ancient leaves, as if the ground were still sand or gravel or flagstones, over which I walked once again as if in search of you, between these walls laden with woodwork, stucco, moldings, paintings, framed prints past which I strode, among which even then, I was waiting for you, far from this setting in which I now find myself standing before you, waiting for the man who will not be coming now, who is not likely to come now to part us again, to tear you away from me. Will you come?'

Last Year at Marienbad 1961 is the film French of directed from Alain Resnais, with Delphine Seyrig, Giorgio Albertazzi, Sacha Pitoëff. The scenario is Alain Robbe-Grillet.